November 26, 2002 PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Ben Tannenbaum or Israel Kline at (202) 225-2836 Markey Questions Need for New Nuclear Bomb Factory
Washington, D.C. - Representative Edward J. Markey (D-Maryland), a senior Member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and co-chairman of the Bipartisan Task Force on Nonproliferation, today released a letter to Spencer Abraham, Secretary of the Department of Energy (DOE), asking for information related to DOE's proposal to build the Modern Pit Facility, a new multi-billion dollar facility that would be used to manufacture plutonium pits for nuclear weapons. "The Bush Administration claims to be committed to nuclear non-proliferation, and has promised to reduce the number of nuclear weapons, yet it also wants to build a new bomb factory," said Rep. Markey. "This inconsistent policy can only undermine U.S. efforts to convince other nations to abide by their non-proliferation obligations. Further, DOE can't find anything wrong with the 10,000 warheads that are already deployed, or the 5,000 warheads that could easily be re-deployed, or the 7,000 pits left over from dismantled warheads. I just don't see the need for this costly new facility." Press releases from DOE claim that the United States does not have, but needs, a new facility to produce hundreds of new pits per year. The facility would not come on-line until 2018, a time when the Bush Administration projects, 1,700 to 2,200 deployed warheads. However, a facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory has built 11 test pits and will be able to make certified pits by April 2003; this facility would be able to produce 20 pits per year. Rep. Markey's letter asked for the following information from DOE: To read Representative Markey's letter in its entirety, visit www.house.gov/markey. For more information about the proposed facility, its effects on New Mexico and comments on the proposed facility, please see the CCNS News Archive.
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